Instagram Changes Policy on Ads After Users Voice Anger

Friday

Dec 21, 2012 at 11:53 PM

In the aftermath of the uproar over changes to Instagram's privacy policy and terms of service earlier this week, the company did an about-face late Thursday. Users had been particularly concerned by a clause in Instagram's policy introduced on Monday that suggested Instagram would share users' data with Facebook and its advertisers to better target ads.

In the aftermath of the uproar over changes to Instagram's privacy policy and terms of service earlier this week, the company did an about-face late Thursday. Users had been particularly concerned by a clause in Instagram's policy introduced on Monday that suggested Instagram would share users' data with Facebook and its advertisers to better target ads. They also took issue with an update to the company's terms of service that suggested users' photos could be used in advertisements, without compensation and even without their knowledge. Following a reaction that included customers defecting to other services, Kevin Systrom, Instagram's co-founder, wrote: "I want to be really clear: Instagram has no intention of selling your photos, and we never did. We don't own your photos — you do."